kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Hours after British media reported that the family of missing teenager Delika White Lezama was beyond desperate for her safe return, she was reunited with her mother Delia White yesterday afternoon.
Around 5.15 pm, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit (AKU), Sangre Grande police and Hunters Search and Rescue located the British teenager.
However, police did not give any further information as they were still investigating Delika’s disappearance. However, the search and rescue group provided photographs of the Delika embracing relatives.
Several British news outlets, including Sky News, the Daily Mail, Express, Telegraph, Mirror, Sun and the Evening Standard, reported on Delika’s disappearance on Thursday.
The TTPS reported that Delika, 13, went missing from the Foster Road, Sangre Grande home of her grandmother on December 17. The last time anyone saw her was at 5 pm that afternoon. She was last seen wearing a pink jersey, black skirt, glasses and a pair of pink and white Nike Air Force 1 trainers.
The Mirror said Delika lived in Greenford, London, and was on a family vacation and staying at her grandmother’s home with White and her seven-year-old brother. The family feared that someone had abducted her.
White told the UK publication that the last time anyone saw Delika, she was on a back road after going to a corner shop near her grandmother’s house around 4 pm to purchase a SIM card, because she had trouble with her phone. The shopkeeper confirmed Delika visited the shop but left after she could not get the SIM. White said the family began searching for Delika when they realised 10 minutes had passed and she had not returned.
“We looked everywhere. A few people said the cameras were not working in the area. It gets dark at around 5.30 pm. I started to get worried, as she did not know the area. She does not really speak the language, so I thought anyone could have seen her or any driver could have picked her up. I do not know if she went somewhere and got lost.
“Then when it got dark, I went to the police station to make a report. Then they started driving around and looking for her as well. We looked all through the night,” White said.
White said Delika did not seem upset or angry when she left the house, suggesting there was no indicator the teen ran away. She also could not think of anyone who would abduct her, since the family is well-known in the community.
In an email to Guardian Media on December 30, Delika’s aunt Melanie Moore said the family felt disturbed and distraught that the child was still missing.
Police checked for surveillance footage from the area to track her movements. Search teams meanwhile inspected homes, vacant properties and rivers and appealed to the public for help. The AKU, led by ASP Darryl Ramdass, Eastern Division police led by Senior Superintendent Daryl Khan and the Hunters Search and Rescue Team led joint searches.
The United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office is also assisting the family.
